Mopping apparatus



Dec. 4, 1951 0 c. WOLFER 2,577,496

MOPPING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 5, 1946 m .4 i? L iifi H m i:

ii 1 H u INVENTORY Duane: C. Wo Zf'er fiorhg Patented Dec. 4, 1951UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOPPING APPARATUS Duane C. Wolfer, VanportCity, reg., assignor of one-half to E. S. Hokanson, McMinnville, Oreg.

Application September 3, 1946, Serial No. 694,613

1 Claim. (0]. 15-260) The object of this invention is to provide a mopbucket and portable support therefor which serves to hold a mop inwringing position, which mop and bucket, however, may be easily andreadily detachable for use.

A further object of my invention is to provide a mop having an absorbentapplicator secured thereto, the handle for said mop having a notchedengagement with a pressure applying device for compressing saidabsorbent applicator and expressing the dirty water therefrom.

A further and incidental object of my invention is to provide awheel-mounted support for said bucket and mop, which support may beeasily and quickly engaged by said mop to compress the water absorptivehead and express the water therefrom into a bucket.

Further and other details of my invention are hereinafter described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a perforated mopsupported ledge, whichmay releasably be held in a bucket;

Fig. 2 is a foreshortened side elevation of a mop embodying myinvention;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2 through thehead of said mop, showing the manner in which a sponge rubber applicatormay be secured to the handle of said mop; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a mop bucket carried by a.wheel-supported carrier with a mop arranged therein for engagement by aportion of the carrier to express water from the head of said mop, aportion of the handle of said mop being shown broken away.

My invention is directed to a mop l, comprising a head 2, to which isreleasably attached a sponge rubber applicator 3. Said a plicator has arecess formed upon one surface bounded by an upwardly and inwardlyturned skirt, which encircles and overlies the mop head so that it maybe firmly secured thereto but may also be easily detached by distendingsaid skirt so that it does not engage said head. That is, the skirt ismade of resilient rubber which is flexible and resilient. This permitssaid skirt to hold the applicator secured to the head but permits itsready detachment. Said head has a pair of upstanding ears 5 securedthereto, and the socket 6 for the mop handle 1 is pivotally mountedbetween said ears upon a shaft 8. A pair of detents 9, carried by one ofthe ears, is spring-pressed into an aperture (not shown) in the handleto hold it at a desired angular position with respect to the head.

Said socket is provided with a recess l0, which slopes downwardly andinwardly and is adapted to receive and hold the overlying portion of thebail ll of the bucket support 12. Said bucket support preferablycomprises a triangular frame I3, supported by caster wheels l4,preferably arranged at the three corners thereof. A V-shaped foot leverI5 is pivotally supported in the free ends upon pivots I 6 at the pointwhere an upstanding arm joins said frame l3. A tension spring l8,connected between said foot lever and said arm at each side, tends tohold lever upwardly in the position shown in Fig. 4.

The bail ll straddles a mop bucket I 9, carried by the bucket supportl2, the ends of said bail being secured at the opposite sides of saidbucket on pivot connections made with the foot lever I 5. Laterallyprojecting ears I! are arranged at the end of the arms and haveappertures arranged therein through which the arms of the bail ll passand with which they slidably engage. When the mop is arranged as isshown in Fig. 4, it is-supported by a perforated shelf 2| arrangedslightly below the margin or upper edge l9 of the bucket, but well abovethe bottom thereof. The mop bucket preferably is provided with animperforate partition 19, and said shelf overlies a portion of saidbucket at one side of the partition. Said shelf preferably is supportedby three hooks 2P, which engage the marginal edge l9 of the bucket anddepend into said bucket, lying closely alongside the inside surfacethereof. Said shelf conforms in its outline to that of the inner surfaceof the bucket, and thus fits quite snugly Within said bucket and at oneside of the partition l9 thereof.

The bail I l' is bent laterally so as to permit the mop handle 1 to bearranged vertically, and thus when the foot lever I5 is depressed, thebail exerts a squeezing force through its engagement with the handle topress the sponge rubber applicator against the perforated shelf 2| toexpress the dirty water from said sponge rubber. When foot pressure isreleased, the tension spring l8 lifts the foot lever, and the mop may beremoved by disengaging the recess lll from the bail II. The bucket l9also can easily be removed from its support 12 when the mop is not inplace merely by sliding it out from under the bail. The partitionedbucket permits clean water to be carried in one-half thereof andcollects dirty water expressed from the sponge rubber, at the other sideof the partition. For convenience, it is preferred that the bail H ofthe mop bucket be arranged away from the point of the foot lever forconvenience in inserting and removing the mop bucket from its supportl2. The bucket is seated in an open-mouthed frame [2 which closelyencircles it but from which it may easily be lifted.

It is preferred that the skirt 4 of the sponge rubber applicator be madeof tougher and .denser rubber so that it will resist strains which wouldtend to disengage the applicator from the head 2 of the mop. In otherwords, it is not necessary that said skirt be made of sponge rubber,because it plays no part in the mopping operation. It is essential,however, that said skirt provide a secure grip to the head to preventinadvertent disengagement of said parts.

Said mopping apparatus is used as follows: The mop, free of the bucketand its support, is depressed into the clean water at the right-handside of the partition, as is shown in Fig. 4. When the mop is to becleaned, it is arranged with the handle upright and with the recess inengagement with the bail l I, as is shown in Fig. 4. The, V-shaped leveris then pushed down by foot action applied to the apex thereof, which isthe lefthand portion shown in Fig. 4, until the bail compresses thesponge rubber applicator to the desired degree to express the dirtywater therefrom. The foot lever is then released and the mop which isthus wrung out may again be released from the bail and dipped in theclean water to form continuing mopping. This is continued until theWater in the bucket is dirty. Then the bucket can be removed bydisengaging it from its support l2 and a fresh supply may be provided.The arrangement of the bucket with relation to its support tends toprevent overturning when the foot lever is pressed down. If theapplicator becomes worn or distorted by having the cellular structurebroken down, a new applicator may be easily and quickly equipped to thehead merely by disengaging the skirt from the head, and a new applicatorcan be put into place by the reverse action. Also, if the length oftravel of the bail is insuflicient to squeeze the. applicator,additional pressure may be provided by prying by the use of the mophandle.

I claim:

A floor mop squeezing apparatus, comprising a wheel mounted supportcarrying an openmouthed bucket supporting frame, an elongated V-shapedlever pivotally connected at the'ends thereof to said wheel mountedsupport, said lever straddling said bucket frame and being fulcrumedupon said wheel mounted support in overlying position for manualdepression toward said support, an integral U-shaped bail memberpivotally joined at the ends thereof to said lever for depressiontherewith, a pair of spaced guide members carried by said wheel mountedsupport and.

extending upwardly therefrom, each said guide member terminating in anaperture through which one leg of said U-shaped bail member slidably isthreaded to guide the bail during said manual depression, a tensionspring means fixed to each said guide and to the side of sai levercompanion thereto to bias said lever against said manual depression, abucket removably seated in said open-mouthed frame and carrying a mopsupport with a mop seated therein, said mop having a mop head lyingbelow the plane of the top of said bucket, and pivotally joined to oneend of a mop handle, and a cupped recess in said mop handle intermediatethe ends thereof, said U-shaped bail member overlying said mop head andbeing complementary to and removably seated in said recess to applysqueezing force to said mop head during said manual depression againstthe force of said spring bias.

DUANE C. WOLFER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 900,430 Schaefle, Oct. 6, 19081,506,916 Lawlor. Mar. 25, 1913 1,378,879 Lawlor T May 24, 1921 9 .07 vGu lh rs et 4 J ne 10 1.924 31 11 Jqn s J e 7. 19.27 1,652,800 hulman. e3.1 .2 1,912,543 Sendler June 6, 1933 2.01 .1 3 ra t e 9.1 2,163,638Vaughn June 27, 1939 2,210,967 Vaughn Aug. 13, 1940 2,220,401 Fouke Nov,5, 1940 2,354,969 Trindl et al. Aug. 1, 1944 2,358,673 Vaughn Sept. 19,1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 235,401 Germany June 9, 1911330,543 Great Britain June 10, 1930 403,020 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1933597,084 Germany May 16, 1934

